05 February 2021
Newsdesk
The Weeknd will reportedly perform in the stands during his half-time show at the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Performers traditionally take over the centre of the field after the first half of the big NFL game, but health and safety restrictions have apparently driven the Blinding Lights singer to the terraces at the Raymond James stadium in Tampa Bay, Florida.
A source tells Page Six the show will be "phenomenal, different and historic", put together by a fraction of the people usually employed to set up and take down a stage in record time.
"It's a total of 1,000 people, and they can't touch the field," an insider says. "How do you pull off a show that's not on the field and is as impactful as it's ever been with same level of entertainment? Wait till you see it, it's beautifully done."
Another source tells the outlet that staging a virtual show from another stadium was ruled out almost as soon as The Weeknd signed on to perform.
"The whole idea of Super Bowl half-time is that you're able to experience that," the insider adds, "The NFL (National Football League) didn't want the fans in attendance not to have that experience. The easy way out is to have it somewhere else, but it is part of the overall Super Bowl."
Super Bowl executive producer Jesse Collins previously told Entertainment Tonight, "We're gonna use the stadium to present the half-time show in a way that it's never been presented before... Instead of focusing on what we can't do (due to the pandemic), it's like, 'Look at what the opportunities are because of the cards we've been dealt'."
